In Your Arms
by Drodjan
Summary: A missing moment from the OOTP movie. During the battle in the Department of Mysteries, Ron does something unexpected, suprising both himself and Hermione. When it's all over, they realize that they share something worth fighting for. RHr oneshot.


A/N – Well, I've been itching to write this Ron/Hermione piece for a while. Some of you may have heard of a scene that they cut from the _Order of the Phoenix_ movie. It was during the Department of Mysteries fight, during which Ron saved Hermione from a Death Eater and she fell into his arms. So, being the greedy shipper that I am, I was pretty upset when I learned they'd cut it! Anyways, here's my interpretation of what it would have been like. Fingers crossed that it makes the DVD!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of its elements and characters, which belong solely to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.

_In Your Arms_

"It's here – just a little closer!"  
The uncertainness in Harry's voice was clear, and Hermione couldn't help but get the feeling that nobody else was here.

Harry moved eagerly ahead, nearly running, while she, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna moved at a much more cautious pace. If one word could be used to describe this room, it would be immense. From what she could see, endless rows stretched on and on in all directions, as far as their lights could go. A vast, black emptiness stretched above them; the roof was invisible, shrouded in darkness that threatened to penetrate the bright rows below.

Rows of what? Hermione didn't know, but they interested her – the endless lines of small glass orbs, their blue pulsations providing the only lighting in the room, their contents blurred and murky. Each one of them had an identifying plaque, but the pace Harry had them moving at kept her from managing to read any of them. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but get the feeling that they were in some sort of library.

The utter silence around them and the impregnable void that stretched just beyond the glowing orbs was unnerving. "Here! It should be here!" Harry's voice was unnaturally loud. He had reached a crossroad where four of the aisles met, and was looking around desperately for a sign of Sirius.

Hermione didn't see him, and turned to Ron, whom she found was already looking at her. His flaming red hair was the only distinguishable color amongst the orbs and dominating darkness. "Harry!" She called out. "Harry, I don't think Sirius is here."

"No, no – he's here. He has to be!"

Hermione blinked and looked away from Ron, towards Harry's lone figure at the break in the rows. She quickened her pace to a jog, and the group finally caught up with him.

"Harry, it's got your name on it." Neville was speaking, his gaze on one of the orbs.

Harry furrowed his brow, and approached it; Hermione read the dusty letters on the plaque: _Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter_. Harry's fingers closed around the small orb, and he took it from its shelf.

Hermione had the unexplainable urge to go. "Harry-"

Footsteps. Hermione jerked around – nobody was moving. But surely enough, she heard it: the sound of boots against the polished floor. Footsteps echoed in the darkness, directly ahead. Hermione took a step back, but Ron moved forwards, closer to her and Ginny. The others formed tighter together, and her resolve steeled. She clenched her wand and pointed it towards the sounds.

"Sirius is here," Harry said, more to himself than anyone else.

A voice, oily and familiar, reached them, "You know, you really ought to learn the difference," a dark, robed figure came into view, his face obscured by a metal mask and hood. He drew his wand from a short cane, "between illusion -" he waved his wand, and his mask disappeared, revealing the white blonde hair and arrogant face of Lucius Malfoy, "and reality."

Despite his proximity, the teenagers held their own wands loosely in their hands. He continued, "Just hand over the prophecy, and nobody gets hurt."  
Hermione stared at the orb in Harry's hand, and its significance dawned on her. Voldemort had lured Harry here –Sirius wasn't here, it'd been a ploy to reel Harry in, to get this prophecy.

Harry backed up slightly, his grip on the orb tightening, seeming to have come to the same conclusion. "If you come any closer, I'll break it."

An icy, shrill laugh echoed from behind Lucius, and another figure emerged from the shadows. "This one knows how to play!" It was a woman, her untamed, ebony hair flowed down well below her shoulders, and she'd abandoned the robes of the Death Eaters for a dark, form-fitting suit. Her wild eyes focused on Harry. "Itty … bitty … _baby_ … Potter."

"Bellatrix Lestrange." Hermione diverted her eyes from the two figures to look at Neville, whose mouth hung, slightly open. She recognized the name as one of the Death Eater's who'd broken out of Azkaban.

Her lips twisted into a wicked smile, "Neville Longbottom, is it? How's Mum and Dad?"

"Better now that they're about to be avenged!" Neville's wand came up, ready to fire; Hermione gasped, Luna started, and Harry grasped his arm, pulling it down.

Bellatrix had made a similar move, but Lucius held her back, his eyes darting between the two groups. "Let's, everybody, just calm down."

More footsteps clapped against the floor, this time to her side. Hermione turned, apprehensive, and saw two black-clad figures form out of the shadows. Beside her, Ginny turned the opposite direction; she and Luna were now confronted by another pair of robed, masked figures. Immediately behind Hermione, Neville and Harry stood against Lucius and Bellatrix, and furthest from her, but most needed – Ron faced two Death Eaters alone.

Harry looked down at the prophecy in his hands with a sense of curiosity. "What's this thing got to do with me and Voldemort?"

"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix whispered, her eyes bulging, "YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!"

Lucius held her back again, "Now, now, Bella, there's no need to get nasty."

He took a slow step forwards towards Harry. "Haven't you always wondered what was the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant? Don't you want to know the secret … of your scar? All of the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do is give it to me - I can show you everything."

A bit of doubt crept into Harry's voice, "I've waited fourteen years."

Lucius's voice was sympathetic, "I know."

Harry glanced back at Hermione and the others, and seemed to draw resolve. "Think I can wait a little longer. NOW!"

"_STUPEFY_!" Six voices shouted in unison; six jets of crimson flew at their enemies. The Death Eater Hermione had aimed for Disapparated in a cloud of black; her Stunning Spell rushed into the smoke and disappeared. Similar results happened all around her, the followers of Voldemort scattered, realizing that they weren't going to get the prophecy without a fight. Not knowing where they was much more terrifying than having had them so close.

With no plan but to escape, the students bolted in separate directions, having long since lost their way in the vast room. Hermione sought desperately for that red mess of hair, and she saw it – Ron leapt through the chaos towards her, a Death Eater on his heels.  
She raised her wand, and backpedaled down the row, "_Impedimenta_!" The figure Disapparated out of the way of her jinx, and Ron reached her; she turned and they sprinted down the row, the glow of the prophecies became a blur.

She had to run as fast as she could to keep up with the taller Ron, but she got the feeling he was holding back to stay with her – his legs moved slower than his full stride. Two _cracks_ sounded from behind them, Hermione turned her head, keeping at full speed, to see a pair of Death Eaters Apparate behind them, their wands raised.

"_Stupefy_!" she cried; Ron joined her, and their spells shot at the oncoming Death Eaters. One masked figure dodged Hermione's jet of red, and the other flicked his wand, dispersing Ron's spell.  
The adult wizards were too powerful to be overcome with their magic. Hermione racked her brain for something to use, and an idea suddenly came to mind. She waved her wand at the prophecies alongside the Death Eaters. "_Waddiwasi_!"

Ron saw what she was doing, and followed suit, waving his wand. The glass orbs darted from their shelves and barraged the Death Eaters, whose shield charms were useless against so many objects. In an instant, they were gone. Hermione let out a panting breath, and returned her view forwards, they were approaching the end of the aisle –  
_Crack_. A huge, robed figure emerged from an explosion of smoke, towering over the two. Hermione and Ron skidded to a halt; she'd scarcely raised her hand when a flash burst from the end of the Death Eater's wand. She squinted her eyes and her hair was thrown back as a the oncoming curse rushed past her-

And struck Ron in the arm. His face contorted in pain, his defensive charm died on his lips as he was flung into the air with a shout. Hermione watched him in horror. "Ron -" She began, but her windpipe suddenly constricted, a pressure built around her entire body as if she was thousands of feet underwater, crushing her. The Death Eater had his wand pointed at her, now, and he dashed it upwards. Hermione was thrown into the air, terror gripping her, and her wand fell to the floor. She looked back desperately, and at last her eyes found Ron's – he was on the ground, gripping his arm in pain, but his expression changed to worry when he saw her. "Do something!" She pleaded.

Determined, Ron scrambled for his wand, half-rose to his feet, and bellowed, "_STUPEFY_!" The Stunning Spell hit the Death Eater in the shoulder with alarming force, and sent him spiraling backwards into the air. He crashed into a shelf of prophecies, and a shower of orbs rained upon him, breaking on his head. The Death Eater fell heavily to the floor, unconscious.

The pressure on her lifted, and her entire body tingled with the returning of sensation. She was immensely relieved, before she remembered that she was still high above the ground – and then she began to fall. Hermione screamed, unable to stop herself from plummeting. There was a shout from below, and she covered her face with her arms, hoping it wasn't going to hurt.  
It didn't. But it wasn't the cold, hard floor that hummed warmly against her. A wide body was pressed into her side, two arms grasped her tightly, and her legs dangled – she was still in the air.

She was in his arms.  
Hermione's eyes opened wide.

_Ron_. He held her to him; he'd leapt to his feet and caught her as she fell, and now he looked at her, half-relieved that he'd gotten to her in time, and half-shocked that he'd actually managed to catch her.  
She was just as surprised as he was, and suddenly his eyes were the most brilliant blue she'd ever seen. The glowing of the orbs around her was incomparably dull, and she stared in utter disbelief at the boy who'd saved her. Her words stopped short in her throat, and all she could do was hold his intense gaze. For a single, heart-stopping moment, she thought Ron was going to kiss her…  
He cleared his throat, and she felt extremely foolish. "Better keep running," his voice was reluctant.  
Hermione nodded, the moment gone. "Right."

When they both realized he was still holding her and neither was making an attempt to move, Ron reddened. He quickly set her down, leaving her to the cold air without his warmth. They set of running again, and quickly reached the end of the row.

They barely missed colliding with Harry, who'd just come through the adjacent aisle. Ginny was right behind him, and then Neville and Luna stumbled in from another row. Hermione's mind whirled. Had it all really happened so fast?  
But she had little time to think, as the Death Eaters had reformed at the center of the row behind them. They all turned, their wands raised, but Ginny was the first. "_Reducto_!"

The group Disapparated as the curse sped towards them, and it exploded where they'd just been with a dazzling flash of light.  
To say that Hermione was impressed would have been a serious understatement. Her appreciation of her friend's skill, however, ended when the shelves began to sway, knocked off balance by the power of Ginny's curse.  
Hundreds of orbs teetered and fell from their shelves, filling the aisles with blue mist and sharp noise. Luna cocked her head, fascinated, but Neville ran forward and took her hand, pulling her back. She turned and ran with him back to them.

"Run."

Nobody needed Harry to repeat himself. They all spun on their heels and sprinted for the door. The last thing Hermione needed was one of the Death Eaters to Apparate and block their path, but none did. They reached the door at last, flung it open –  
And ran into thin air. There was no floor below them.

In the fraction of a second that they spent on the edge, Ron's hand touched her back as he attempted to pull her from the fall. There wasn't enough time, and when Luna and Neville ran into them from behind, they all tumbled out and plunged dozens of feet. Inches from the floor, a tug pulled them back roughly, and for a moment, they hung motionless.  
It ended. They hit the ground with much less force than they would have, and Hermione felt Ron withdraw his hand from her back. He stood up with the others, brushing himself off. "Department of Mysteries – they got that part right, didn't they?" he commented, looking around this new room.

It was much smaller than the previous room, but the roof seemed to reach much higher. Around them were graduated rows or seats, like some sort of audience chamber. In the center, on a raised dais, was a great stone archway, with strange symbols carved into its surface. Some of the symbols were strikingly similar to those that Hermione had studied in Ancient Runes, but others completely threw her, and none of them together made any sense.  
Harry and Luna had started to walk towards it. The archway was draped with some kind of blurred veil; Hermione couldn't tell from this distance whether it was corporeal or not, but she had no intention of getting any closer to it. An uneasiness and fear gripped at her, and she no longer wanted to be in the room with this object.

"The voices," Harry was speaking, nearing the dais.

"Voices?" Hermione's voice was high.

"Don't you hear them?" Harry glanced back at them for only a second, and they moved forward against their will to get near him.

"There aren't any voices, Harry." Hermione said, wishing she could be anywhere but here.

"I hear them too." Luna affirmed, interested.

They'd stepped onto the dais, and Hermione wavered, but Ron gave her a reassuring nod.  
She was going to respond, but Harry had turned, and his eyes widened at something behind them. He raised his wand. "Get behind me!"

They rushed forward and turned, forming up behind him with their wands pointed towards the entrance. Bellatrix's high-pitched cackles filled the room, and dark, smoky forms soared into the room and towards them.  
Her vision was totally obscured; she and the others batted uselessly against the smoke, which felt solid enough to them but was as thin as air. She groped hopelessly, and her hand found something warm. It was Ron's, and she briefly glimpsed him struggling to hold her until an arm snatched her around the neck from behind, and a hand gripped Ron's hair, tearing him from her –

She was weightless. All she could see was blackness; she couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, and she didn't know where the others were. She couldn't see Harry, and she couldn't see Ron.  
The room came back into view, and the arm around her had not loosened. A wand was pointed at her head, and a gruff voice from behind said, "Quiet!"

She didn't think of disobeying, but she couldn't keep herself from whimpering in panic. All around to room, they were held, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and to her side, Ron. His right eye was swollen, and the Death Eater that gripped him had a bleeding lip from where Ron had elbowed him.  
Ron's face was angry, to say the least, and his eyes shifted from Ginny to Hermione, the only terror in his eyes was for them. When he saw that both were alive and breathing, he looked to Harry, who stood alone on the dais.

Lucius Malfoy approached him. "Did you really think … were you truly naïve enough to believe … that you could defeat _us_?" He stopped close to Harry, and gestured to the prophecy. "Let me make this simple for you, Potter: Give me the prophecy, or your friends die."

Harry hesitated, and looked around at his friends.  
"Don't give it to him, Harry!" Neville shouted from across the chamber, and Bellatrix snapped something at him.

Harry's gaze held on Hermione, and then on Ron, and continued to the rest of the group. He sighed, and said, "Alright."  
_Don't do it, Harry!_  
But her thoughts did not reach him. He held out his hand and placed to prophecy into Lucius's fingers.

They were all doomed. But there was a flash of white, and somebody now stood behind Lucius.

Sirius Black.

Lucius spun around, and Sirius took out his wand. "Get away from my godson." The Animagus punched Lucius in the face, knocking him to the floor. The prophecy fell from his hands, Bellatrix shrieked, and it shattered on the steps.  
There were roars everywhere. Bright alabaster smoke filled the room, and the forms of Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley and Lupin appeared on the dais. The Order of the Phoenix had arrived.

Hermione was released, she let out a gasp for air as the Death Eater abandoned her and flew to meet the Kingsley.  
There was a flash again and Hermione grabbed her wand, but there was no need – vibrant pink hair caught her attention; Tonks smiled at her and picked her up to her feet. "Come on!" She said, and tugged Hermione down the row of seats. A Death Eater blocked their way, but Moody slammed his staff to the ground, and knocked the dark wizard off his feet. Tonks hurried past, and they were quickly joined by Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville, who were corralled in by Lupin. The former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher now turned his attention to a Death Eater up on the steps, and sent a series of spells at him, running away from the teens to divert his attention.

"Get in here," Tonks urged her into a large crevice behind the dais. Hermione looked back, but Tonks dissapeared in a flash of white.

Ron was beside her, and she wondered what he was going to do. He shifted uneasily, looking her over, and then let out a sigh of relief, "You're alright."

"Your eye," Hermione knew the swelling was going to develop into a black eye; the burst blood vessels below his skin were already starting to turn purple.

"It's nothing," he waved her off. "Besides, I got the bloody git, didn't I?"

But Hermione had just noticed something. "Where's Harry?" He wasn't in sight, and Hermione looked around frantically. Ron, his concerns about Hermione now gone, looked just as worried.

"Over here!" They moved towards Luna, who gestured them over. Ginny pointed up, and Hermione tried in vain to climb to sheer wall, straining to hear Harry's voice through the shouts and curses flying around.

"He's alright," Ron said firmly, "He always comes out alright."

Hermione turned to him, and gasped in surprise as a Death Eater rounded a corner in the crevice.  
Ron spun around, and shouted, "_Stupefy_!" The Death Eater's Shield Charm rebounded the spell, and Ron and Ginny leapt out of its way.

"_Locomotor Mortis_!" Hermione's jinx was aimed at the Death Eater's legs, which locked together.

As he fell, however, he waved his wand at Hermione and screamed, "_Avada Ked_-"

But he never finished the Killing Curse, because there were four shouts of "_EXPELLIARMUS_!" The Death Eater was lifted off his feet by the force of the spells; his wand flew from his hand and fell into Ron's, and he smashed into the wall with enough force to knock off shards of rock. He did not move.

"_NOOOOO_!"

Hermione was seized with horror at Harry's scream. He wasn't hurt, she could tell, but the deadweight in her stomach told her something terrible had happened.

"SIRIUS! HE'S – NOT – DEAD!"

_Sirius!_

Hermione was unable to see what was going on, and looked uselessly straight up the dividing wall.

"HER! She killed him – I'll kill her!"

Bellatrix cackled.

"Harry, no! Come back!" Lupin called after him, but Bellatrix's insane laughter and Harry's screams faded from hearing. There were several more curses shouted, some frantic shouts, an explosion, and a groan.

When the dust above them settled, an entrance appeared to the crevice again. They ran up to the floor of the room, to find it very changed then when they'd last seen it. Moody and Kingsley were rounding up the Death Eaters, who were all bloody and tied in ropes. Much of the room was in ruins; the only part that remained intact was the central archway, where Lupin sat in a daze with Tonks, who held him by the shoulders and was whispering.

Hermione and Ron hurried to him, they last voice they'd heard. The werewolf's eyes were glazed, his gaze vacantly resting on nothing in particular.

"Remus – look at me." Tonks shook him, and he blinked at her, his eyes teary.

"Professor, what happened?" Hermione knelt beside Tonks, and Ron crouched next to her. Neville, Luna and Ginny were all fixated on him as well, needing to know where Harry was.

"Gone," Lupin croaked, his voice hollow. "He's gone."

"Who's gone?" Ginny demanded.

"Both – they're both gone. James and Sirius … gone." Something clenched at Hermione's heart, and Ron squeezed her shoulder.

"Remus," Tonks began.

Hermione couldn't stop herself, "Where's Harry?" Tonks pointed towards a door on the opposite end of the room, and Hermione took off with the others.

000

When they'd reached the atrium of the Ministry, it was almost unrecognizable. Tiles lay in broken heaps on the floor. The golden statues in the fountain had toppled and some lay in fragments. Water had spilled out onto the floor, all the glass windows had shattered, and the shards scattered across the floor until at one point it all turned to sand.

And there knelt Albus Dumbledore, and, before him, writhing on the floor, his face a mask of agony, was Harry.  
The others stayed behind them. Together, Hermione and Ron had advanced into the room until they'd stopped on the spot they'd seen Harry. He was looking at them, now, his eyes crying for aid.

Hermione had never felt so useless. For more than once this night, she didn't know what to do. Sirius and Bellatrix were nowhere to be found, and now Harry was on his side, as if in torture, while even Dumbledore himself knelt helplessly beside him.  
As he stared at Ron and Hermione, something seemed to change in his eyes, and he slammed them shut for a second, before he began to speak.  
His words floated across to them in the hollow atrium. "You're … weak one, and you'll never know love … friendship … I feel sorry for you."

There was a flash, and for a split second, a kind of magical encasing formed around Harry. There were bursts of green, and Aurors spilled into the room. Cornelius Fudge stopped dead in his tracks, and so did everyone else.  
Lord Voldemort stood above Harry, having appeared out of nowhere, but with one glance at Dumbledore, he Disapparated.

Fudge gaped stupidly. "He's back!"

Under normal circumstances, Hermione would have scoffed at this remark by the all-too-intelligent-Minister, but now she and Ron were across the room, falling at Harry's side. He smiled weakly at them. "You two saved me."

"Bloody hell, mate," Ron said seriously, not even bothering to watch his language in front of Dumbledore, "You gave us quite a scare."

Hermione gave Ron a chiding glare, before looking back to Harry. "Harry, are you all right?"

He swallowed, looking from the silent Headmaster to his two best friends. "Never better, now that you're here."

000

"He'll be alright," Ron repeated himself again, as Dumbledore took a grieving Harry out of the atrium. "He always comes out alright."

"I'm not sure, Ron," Hermione felt on the verge of tears, this nights events finally washing over her in full. Sirius was dead, she herself had been so close to death, and Harry had almost lost his soul. "I'm not sure about anything anymore."

"Of course you are!" Ron said incredulously, "You know everything."

"I didn't know enough to save Sirius …"

"Hermione," Ron's voice was low, and he took a step towards her, "That was not your fault. Nobody could have stopped it from happening. We couldn't even get into the fight."

Hermione didn't feel very convinced. She wanted to take some of the blame off of Harry's shoulders, but at the same time, Ron's words made sense.

She sniffled. "I know."

For a moment, it looked like Ron was going to put his arms around her; it must have been her hopeful imagination, because he shifted slightly away from her instead. However, when she wavered, the night's events weighing down on her, he put an arm out to steady her and moved closer, "You were right last year."

She looked at him questioningly. He moved his arms a little farther along her back, glancing nervously into her eyes. She smiled at him and leaned on his shoulder.

Ron cleared his throat, and then answered, "About everything changing. Things have changed – things will change. But you know what? Me and you and Harry, we're going to stick it out. You'll be alright." His arm still around her, they began to walk to the exit, where the Order waited to Apparate them to just outside Hogwarts grounds.  
"You _will_ be alright, Hermione."

She slipped her arm around his waist, enjoying the surprised look on his face.  
"I know I will."

_Nothing can hurt me. Nothing, while you're here. I'll be alright, Ron, here in your arms._

A/N – Woo, this was my first HP fic, first action fic, _and_ first R/Hr fic, all in one! Of course, if you liked it, be sure to tell me!! I know it turned out to be a tad long, but once I'd finished the deleted scene, I wanted to just go ahead and finish up the fight scene as well. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and please review!!


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